Almighty Children
by Link Smashes Your Pots
Summary: Loki decides he wants revenge in the Avengers. Seeing as he's come back stronger than before and has a partner, the Avengers don't know what they're going to do. That is until ten mysterious children form an alliance to help the Avengers take care of Loki once and for all. However, two burning questions are left in everybody s mind. Who are the children and can they really help?
1. Chapter One

Wind blew violently through the hair of a fifteen year old girl as she stood in front of Stark Tower. She had on a thick winter parka and scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth, yet the ferocity of the wind was chilling her bones to their very core. Even as she rubbed her hands together for warmth, they became bone chillingly colder.

Sighing greatly, she finally decided to walk into the Tower. As she opened the door, she was greeted with absolute warmth. She smiled when her bones went from bone chillingly cold to normal temperature. With that smile still displayed prominently on her face, the girl walked up to the reception desk.

Stripping her scarf from her face, she prepared herself to talk. However, when the concierge turned around, the girl became extremely nervous. Not having had any friends growing up, she was nervous that she would make a fool of herself. So, instead of talking, she handed the concierge a slip of paper. On that slip of paper was a letter from Tony inviting her to be an apprentice scientist. She had received it shorty after her recent science fair win. The concierge nodded and handed the girl a key card for the elevator. Seeing as all the information was laid out in the letter, not a single word was exchanged between the two.

The girl only smiled as she made her way over to the elevator. When she inserted the key card, the doors of the elevator rolled open with a ding. Stepping into it, the girl pressed the button the displayed the number sixty. Within a few seconds, the doors rolled closed behind her. Nerves once again took over the girl's body as the elevator started its ascent. She had always been scientifically gifted so she wasn't nervous about having to work as a scientist's apprentice every day. She was nervous to be working around the likes of Tony Stark. From the time she was little, she looked up Tony as a scientific role model. Now here she was going to be working for him every day. It was all just a little too overwhelming.

Moments later, the elevator doors rolled open with a ding. Gulping to get rid of the lump that had formed in her throat, the girl carefully stepped out of the elevator. Looking around, she noticed that the room had no walls. Instead, windows wrapped all the way around and went from floor to ceiling.

Just as the girl was about to walk over to the couch and sit down, a man walked up. He had black hair that matched his goatee as well as a faint blue light glowing from underneath the center of his Black Sabbath shirt. His black slacks looked rather expensive, but they fit nicely with his expensive looking shoes. She knew instantly that it was Tony Stark.

"You must be Danielle." Tony walked up and stuck his hand out. Danielle nervously shook it. "I'm Tony. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Tony." Danielle was shaking with nerves. However, Tony placing his hand on her shoulder calmed her down significantly. She just weakly smiled her thanks.

"Now, you ready to get to work?"

"I guess."

Tony patted Danielle on the shoulder and guided her through the condo to a small service elevator. He typed a password into the keypad. After a brief ding, the doors of the elevator rolled open. Being the gentleman that he is, Tony allowed Danielle to walk into it first. The interior reminded her of a dumbwaiter. It was cramped and coated in a metal that looked like aluminum. However, it appeared to be very sturdy. It was holding Danielle after all.

Tony pressed the only button and the elevator started its descent. Danielle found that weird considering she was told to come to the sixtieth floor. If she would have known that she was going to be coming up and going right back down, she would have agreed to meet Tony on the floor they were going to now.

When the doors rolled open, Danielle noticed that the elevator had brought them to an isolated lab. Everything was already laid out and ready to be worked on. On the table off to the left of the elevator was the blueprint to new Iron Man armor. Off to the right was the prototype for the new armor. Displayed on the screens were the aerodynamics and weight of the new suit.

All Danielle could do was staring gapingly at all this work. She then gulped back the nervous lump that had formulated in her throat. Tony had done all this wonderful work and now she was going to help him with it. She was so nervous that she was going to do something wrong and destroy all of Tony's hard work. However, she didn't want to let it show how nervous she was. Working with Tony had been something she had wanted to do since she first got interested in science. Now here she was and nothing was going to take the opportunity from her.

"Make yourself comfortable." Tony smiled widely. He then pointed with his right thumb back at the elevator. "I'm just going on a coffee run. Would you like anything?"

"French vanilla cappuccino please." Danielle smiled, this time with more enthusiasm. She didn't need Tony finding out how nervous she was to be working with him.

"One French vanilla it is."

With that, Tony disappeared back into the elevator. After a few moments, Danielle felt her hands shaking from her nerves. The last time she had shaken this much was when she was after she had been informed of her grandparents' deaths ten years ago. Sighing, she reached into her pocket and came out with her phone and a pair of ear bud headphones. Connecting the headphones to the phone, she opened up her music library and hit the shuffle button.

After a brief opening, Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback started playing. Seeing as she very much enjoyed this song, Danielle started idly singing along. However, in her distracted state, she hadn't realized that the elevator had once again dinged and rolled open.

Quietly, the person in the elevator stepped out and walked over to be at a better hearing distance. He was very much enjoying listening to Danielle sing. It reminded him of a female version of his own singing voice. Smiling at that thought, he gently tapped Danielle on the shoulder.

Seeing as she wasn't expecting it at all, Danielle jumped a good six inches in the air. By the time her music was paused and her headphones came out of her ears, she turned to face the man who tapped her with embarrassment tinging her cheeks.

"Jesus. I'm so sorry." Danielle spoke softly because she was still rather embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

"Don't be. I think you did an amazing job singing." The man smiled with actual appreciation.

"Y-you think so?"

"Yes. You were amazing."

That caused Danielle to blush even more. This time, it was because of the compliment, not embarrassment. When the man sat down in the chair beside her, Danielle couldn't help but feel strangely connected to him, despite the fact that she knew they had never met before today. The way his salt and pepper hair curled around his head looked identical to the way hers curled. His blue eyes appeared to have the same shade as the flecks of blue in her eyes. He even appeared to have the same facial structure. Danielle shrugged it off though because people can look similar and not be related. Her science research was to thank for that information.

"I'm Danielle Pellegrino by the way." With a smile on her face, Danielle stuck out her hand. The man shook it gracefully.

"The name's Banner. Bruce Banner." Bruce smiled widely. Danielle then chuckled softly at his James Bond attempt. All Bruce did was shrug his shoulders. He must really enjoy introducing himself like the secret agent does. Bruce then got a slight look of recognition on his face. "Pellegrino. Where have I heard that name before?" Drumming his fingers on the desk in front of him proved useless because Bruce was still no closer to the answer than he had been before. Sighing, he spoke softly. "Anyways. Are you Tony's new apprentice?"

"Guilty."

"How long you gonna be here?"

"Permanently. I have no family to go home to, so Tony made arrangements to become a foster parent. I'm his first child."

"Fair warning, Tony can be difficult to handle. I've known him for quite some time and I still have trouble managing him."

Danielle chuckled at that. Although she hadn't met Tony until today, she knew by how he was portrayed in the media that he couldn't be quite a handful. However, she hadn't really believed all that much of it because media can twist things far behind what they started out as. Now, hearing Bruce say it, Danielle knew what she had been hearing was true. Also, seeing as she was a quite difficult person herself, she knew that they should get along just fine. Well, until one of them wanted something one way and the other wanted it another.

Seeing as there was nothing else to talk about, Danielle went back to her music. This time, Drink a Beer by Luke Bryan played through her headphones. This song always made her tear up because it was a memorial song. Not only that, but it was in memorial of the singer's brother and sister. Tears silently fell down her cheeks as the song continued to play. Finally, getting emotional to a point where she knew it wasn't safe, she had to excuse herself under the premise of going to the bathroom. Bruce graciously stood from his seat and walked over to type the password in. When it was all typed up, he smiled as he walked back to sit down.

When she was finally alone, Danielle cursed herself for letting the song compromise her emotions. Her emotions were like a perfectly balanced scale; the slightest change on either side and they would tip. As she was sitting trying to calm herself down, she felt Brawn, her inner self, start to boil to the surface. Knowing that she only had a matter of minutes before she changed, Danielle started thinking of the happiest thoughts that she could. Images of puppies, Maple Leafs (mainly Joffrey Lupul), baseballs and candy all danced around inside her head. With one last image of a sugar plum dancing, Danielle felt her inner self subside. She just breathed heavily in relief. The last thing she needed was for Tony to find out that she had gone all Brawn and rampaged through the Tower. Just as she was about to return to the service elevator, she remembered that she didn't know the password. Figuring that Tony would be back soon, she sat down on the couch with her feet tucked underneath her.

As the minutes ticked by, Danielle was getting worried. Seeing as Tony had gone to get coffee and that she had seen a coffee shop less than a block away, Danielle knew that he should have been back a long time ago. She was just getting ready to go inquire about it to Bruce, but the elevator doors rolled open. Smiling to herself, Danielle got up to go and grab her French vanilla cappuccino. However, the person that stepped out of the elevator was definitely not Tony. He had pint straight black hair that reached his shoulders and deep offsetting blue eyes. He also held a staff by his side. It was almost as tall as him and was gold in color. Near the top, it jutted out to form a blade. Hanging underneath that blade was a blue baseball sized orb. The figure was dressed in a long green cape and black body armor.

Before Danielle even knew what was happening, the figure lifted his staff and she was floating in mid-air. Now that wouldn't have been so bad. Except she was on the sixtieth floor of a building whose walls were windows. That petrified her to the very core.

Unbeknownst to both the figure and Danielle, Bruce had been alerted of the strange presence by JARVIS, Tony's operating system. He had quietly snuck up from the lab. He had also ever so quietly turned into Hulk. Now, he was crammed in the small hallway, but he was still undetected. That made the discomfort bearable.

Before he could charge at the figure like he had been planning, he was lifted into the air and thrown into the floor. Seeing as he was a gigantic green monster, he left a rather large indentation in the floor.

The figure snickered before speaking. "Payback hurts, doesn't it?"

"Puny God, let girl go." Hulk sneered with his gravelly voice. Although he was trying his best to hide it, Danielle heard the pain and discomfort in his voice. It was almost like he had let someone down.

"Let me think. No."

Before anyone had another chance to say anything, Hulk was lifted up once again and thrown into the service elevator. He was out cold before he even hit the ground. Danielle stared at him in horror. She desperately wished that there was something she could do to help Hulk, but she was rendered useless in her current state. She tried everything in her power to get Brawn to come out, but there must have been something extremely powerful about the magic holding her up because it wasn't happening.

"Now, my dear. What to do with you?" Loki smiled evilly. That caused Danielle to gulp back some fear that had accumulated inside of her. Loki noticed this and used it to his advantage. "I suppose I could bring you back to Asgard and have you as my wife. Although, Father is looking for more people to torture."

"How about you just let me go?" Danielle yelled with as much force as he weakening body could muster.

"Why would I do that? You seem like you'd make the perfect wife."

"I'd rather be crushed by Hulk than marry a cruel man I just met."

Loki grew a malicious look across his face. When it twisted into something of smug smirk, Danielle felt her insides twist into knots.

"As you wish."

With that, Hulk's unconscious body was lifted off of the ground. Not even having a chance to brace herself, Danielle was thrown violently across the room. When she hit the ground, she noticed Hulk levitating lifelessly above her. Gulping, she readied herself for the sheer weight that he body was about to have dropped on it.

Just before Hulk was lowered, Loki grew another malicious smirk on his face. Loki speaking the words "Say goodnight" were the last two that Danielle heard before having Hulk smashed on top of her. She managed to keep consciousness for all of thirty seconds before the world around her faded into the black blob of unconsciousness.

**A/N: What do you guys think of the first chapter? Oh, how many of you caught the little references I placed? Anyways, what character should be the one Danielle sees when she wakes up? Your options are Hawkeye's son or daughter, Black Widows daughter, Tony's son, Thor's daughter, Steve's daughter, Johnny Storm's daughter, Deadpool's son or one of Loki's two daughters.**


	2. Chapter Two

After being out for nearly a day, vision once again began to flood back into Danielle's eyes. As she became accustom to her surroundings, the light from the ceiling fixture gave her a massive headache. She strained her eyes so she wouldn't absorb so much of the light. When her eyes once again became accustom to the brightness of the light, Danielle used her eyes normally again.

Looking around the room, she noticed she was in what appeared to be a hospital room. She was lying in a typical hospital bed and had hospital machines hooked up to her. As she looked around the room one last time, she noticed a young man standing beside the window staring out of it. He was very thin and maybe five foot three. When he turned to face the bed, Danielle noticed that he had mess of auburn hair that glistened gorgeously in the rising sun. His eyes were the color of the ocean and glistened beautifully in the sunlight. The only thing that made them more beautiful was the fact that they were rimmed by thick black glasses that reminded Danielle of 3D theatre glasses. His clothes consisted of thick looking blue jeans, simple black boots and what appeared to be a grey, green and red Christmas sweater. Despite the fact that it hurt to move her head, Danielle shook it slightly while she chuckled.

"What ya laughin' at?" As soon as Danielle realized that the boy had an Irish accent, she shut up. There was just something about accents that originated from the UK that appealed to her. "Well?"

"Just the fact that you're wearing a Christmas sweater almost a week after the fact." Danielle smiled subtly.

"Quit twistin' hay and tell me how yer feelin'."

"I only understood half of that, but to answer that half, tired and sore."

"I guess that's what happens when ya have Hulk dropped on ya." The boy paused briefly as if he was trying to find the next words he wanted to say. "By the way, I'm Charlie; Tony and Pepper's son."

"Nice to meet you Charlie. I'm Danielle Pellegrino." Danielle smiled weakly because her whole face was burning when she tried to smile normally. It was a miracle that she was alive and talking, so she wasn't going to push things to allow herself to smile.

"Pellegrino? As in the dude who plays _Lucifer_, Pellegrino?"

"He's my uncle. I haven't seen him since my grandparents' funeral ten years ago."

Charlie furrowed his brow in sadness. He knew how Danielle felt. He had never met his biological parents because they never wanted him. He came to learn that when he was ten and asked about them. Turns out they left a rather colorful letter detailing why they didn't want him as their son. He was about to sympathize with Danielle, but a knock on the door brought his attention there.

When it swung open, there was another young man standing there. However, he looked older than Charlie. Judging by the way his dark hair swept across his forehead and by the way that his blue eyes glistened in the sunlight, Danielle figured he was around seventeen. He also stood roughly six feet tall and was on the muscular side. His skin made him look like he had spent a couple weeks tanning in the Hawaiian sun. He also had thin lips. His ears appeared to be a little large for the rest of his head, but they evidently matched the tanned hue. His nose was small, but it still managed to stick out slightly. There were also a few pimples dotting his hairline. He was also wearing a plain white shirt with a brown leather jacket on over top of it. There was also a pair of dog tags hanging idly around his neck. As for pants, he was wearing a simple pair of jeans. On his feet were black running shoes. Overall, this guy was quite handsome looking.

"Time for a shift change." The boy spoke with a slightly gravelly voice.

"About bloody time." Charlie muttered as he walked out of the room.

The other boy just rolled his eyes and smirked. Charlie was always one to be a little overdramatic about the smallest things that ticked him off. The boy then turned to Danielle. He smiled curtly at her before he sat down on the window sill. Danielle smiled weakly back.

"Why are people taking turns watching me?" Danielle raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm pretty sure I can hold my own."

"We don't want Loki coming back to hurt an innocent civilian like you." The boy crossed his arms across his chest as he spoke. He had heard this speech dozens of times before; never had it been the truth.

"What makes you think I'm a civilian?"

"If you weren't, SHIELD would have a profile on you. Seeing as we don't, you can't possibly be anything but a civilian who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Not wanting to argue because she knew it wasn't a good idea, Danielle rolled her eyes in annoyance. The last time she checked, having a green monster inside you that comes out whenever you have a severe mood swing didn't classify you as a civilian.

Silence then fell thickly over the room. Only the occasional hum of the overhead light could be heard. Danielle stared intently at the boy, trying to see if she could figure anything about him. When she finally decided that she couldn't, she decided that she was going to strike up conversation again.

"My name's Danielle." Danielle smiled when she noticed that the serious look on the boy's face faded away into one that was much more awkward. She then chuckled to herself. This boy had trouble talking to girls, didn't he?

"D-Dean." Dean stuttered out of nerves. Danielle chuckled to herself again. This guy definitely had trouble talking to girls. Typical teenage boy for you. He then stared a little at Danielle. He was scanning over her body, stopping briefly at anything he found gorgeous or surprising. He closed his eyes and breathed out a shaky sigh. "You're really pretty."

"No one else thinks so. Not my ex, not my ex-foster parents. No one."

"Tell your ex that he can shove it. As long as you think you're pretty, that's all that matters. As for the ex-foster parents, you don't have to live with them anymore. Their opinions shouldn't matter to you anymore. Neither should your ex's."

"Thanks for the advice, but you got one small detail wrong."

"Oh?" Dean raised a confused eyebrow. He was pretty sure that everything he had said was what he was supposed to say. He started running different scenarios by his brain. Nothing made sense to him. Every outcome he could think of still made the foster parents and ex not matter anymore. As he racked his brain more, he noticed that tears had started to fall down Danielle's face. Taking that into the mix, he was able to come up with a few possible solutions. Could the foster parents still mean something to her? Could her ex? That thought was pretty quickly thrown out though because the ex-boyfriend seemed like he was a complete asshole. He then decided that he was just going to let Danielle tell him herself what detail he had gotten wrong.

"I-I-I do-don't date guys." Danielle shoved her head into her hands and started sobbing harder. She was really nervous as to what Dean would say. Normally, it wouldn't have mattered that much, but Dean was the first person, apart from her ex-girlfriend, that she was telling this to.

Seeing the pain and fear fall from her eyes in the form of tears made Dean sick to his stomach. There was no way that Danielle should be this scared. Being gay was something that people shouldn't be afraid to tell others. Dean had nothing wrong with it, but Danielle obviously didn't know that.

As her tears fell harder, Dean decided to walk over to her and comfort her. There was room beside her on the bed, so Dean sat on it and cradled Danielle. He gently began rocking her to try and calm her down. After a few minutes, the sound of violent crying no longer filled Dean's ears. Instead, he heard the sounds of sweet sleep. Placing Danielle softly back onto the bed, Dean placed a soft kiss to her hand. He then proceeded to return to his seat on the window sill.

Every five minutes, he would avert his attention from the window and look over to see that Danielle was alright. Every time he realized that she was, he would smile to himself and turn back to the window. After about two and a half hours, Dean heard movement coming from the bed. When he drew his attention over to it, he noticed that Danielle was sitting awake. She still had tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes were all puffy. That made Dean's heart drop. There was no way that any person should be feeling this pained to admit to others who they really are.

Seeing that there was still room on the bed, Dean once again sat in it. This time he didn't have to draw Danielle into a hug because she placed her head on his shoulder. She then spoke with a hint of happiness in her voice. "I take it you don't mind then?"

"Of course not. People are born that way. There's nothing they can do to change that, despite what bigoted assholes might think." Dean reached down and squeezed Danielle's hand. She just smiled through the tear stains and puffy eyes. Even with those unflattering factors, Dean still though she was really pretty. He then remembered something that would make Danielle feel better. "As the great author, Dr. Seuss once said, 'Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter'."

"I know we just met, but you're the best friend anyone could ask for."

Dean went to reply, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was hit in the stomach with some kind of energy blast. Crippling pain soon surged through his entire body as he crumpled off the bed into a heap on the floor. All Danielle could do was stare with horror in her eyes.

A figure then walked into the room. She had bright blue pixie cut hair, light gray eyes where the color was barely visible, skin that looked she joined Dean for the couples weeks in Hawaii, in each of her ears were four gold looking stud earrings and on her face, there were freckles that stretched across her nose and under her eyes. She was a rather pretty girl.

Her tight dark green leggings allowed Danielle to see that she was slightly muscular. Her black boots contrasted quite nicely with the leggings, as did her black long sleeve under armor shirt. There was also a green and black Robin style mask across her eyes.

"Ms. Pellegrino, I presume?" The girl spoke with an accent that sounded like she was from Queens. "I'm Night Watcher, Loki's daughter."

Danielle sighed heavily to herself. She then smirked smugly to herself. "What, he was too chicken to deal with me again so he had to send a little girl?" A devilish chuckled then escaped her lips.

Night Watcher became infuriated by that statement. Loki hadn't sent her, exactly. He was preparing to come by himself once again, but she had convinced him to allow her to come by herself. She wanted desperately to prove herself to him.

An energy blast was then shot into Danielle's stomach. It sent crippling pain throughout her entire body. However, unlike Dean, she didn't crumple to a heap on the floor. Instead, it gave her the right amount anger to allow her mood to send her anger emotion severely over the edge. Without even bother to say anything, she transformed into Brawn, her inner green monster.

During the whole three seconds it took her to transform, Dean had been watching intently. He then proceeded to eat the words that he had uttered earlier about Danielle being a civilian. He could tell that she definitely _wasn't_ a civilian. She was a female version of Bruce. Then everything fell into place. Danielle was Bruce's daughter. She had the same problem as him. Anger lead to her inner green monster coming out. She even had the trademark Banner purple on her green monster. Albeit it was bra and not pants, but it was still purple.

Again, without so much as a warning, Brawn decided she wanted to smash Night Watcher. The scrawny little girl was sent flying through the wall of windows that the room possessed. Brawn was chuckling deeply to herself when Night Watcher decided to fly back into the room. She made a beeline for Brawn, but she was grabbed by the boot and smashed in the same manner that Hulk had inadvertently smashed Loki in the Avengers movie. When Night Watcher lay moaning in extreme pain on the ground, Brawn chuckled to herself. "Puny Demi-God."

When Night Watcher decided that she had had enough, she hazardously flew out of the room while muttering a few choice words under her breath. After a few minutes of chuckling, Danielle was able to get her inner green monster to subside. When she transformed back into her normal form, she felt rather embarrassed because she was only wearing a bra and ripped up sweat pant. She also felt rather uncomfortable because she was showing Dean where all her body fat was contained. Self-consciously, Danielle covered her midsection with the remnants of her shirt that she picked up off of the ground. Dean frowned, but said nothing.

When Danielle was once again sitting down on the bed, Dean decided it was time he told her about the revelation he just had.

"Have you ever met your father?" Dean asked nervously. He wasn't really sure what Danielle would do, but he needed to know.

"No. My grandparents told me that he never knew I existed." A few stray tears rolled gracefully down her cheek as she spoke. Dean also breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Her being so calm about it was the last thing he expected, considering what had just happened.

"Well I know who it is."

Danielle felt excitement well up in her eyes. Unbeknownst to her and Dean, a figure had been watching them since Danielle had transformed into Brawn. Now, that figure stepped forward with stray tears running down his stubble covered cheeks. He made a light knocking sound that drew the attention of both Dean and Danielle. When Danielle saw the Bruce had tears streaking down his face, she knew that he had been the man that she had been looking for. He then decided to walk up to the bed and sweep Danielle onto her feet. Even though she was two inches taller than him, Bruce drew her into a bear hug. He then leaned down slightly and whispered sweetly into her ear.

"That would be me."


	3. Chapter Three

Tears then fell faster down Danielle's face. She couldn't believe that she hadn't realized that Bruce was her father before now. All the hints had been there. He had hair that curled exactly like hers, his blue eyes matched the flecks of blue in her own and he changed into a big green monster just like her.

Seeing as her dad was shorter than she was, Danielle sat back down on the bed. Bruce followed behind. Danielle then leaned over and placed her head on Bruce's shoulder. Many more tears were shed between the two of them before Dean finally awkwardly cleared his throat. Both Bruce and Danielle looked over at him in annoyance. Bruce's face grew a little angry because he couldn't believe the nerve of the kid. He had just wanted to have a nice first meeting with his daughter and here the other kid in the room was ruining it. Danielle just glared at Dean. Dean began to feel a little uncomfortable and embarrassed. He thought that they deserved their time, but right now they had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think we should go inform everyone that Loki isn't working alone." Dean pointed to the gigantic hole in the floor and then to the one in the window wall.

"If we must." Bruce sounded rather annoyed that he actually had to do work. That didn't seem to surprise Danielle though. They were both like that. When it was work that didn't actually need to be done or work that could easily be done by someone else, she found no joy in doing it.

Sighing, she lifted her head off of Bruce's shoulder. Knowing that she would have to change into appropriate clothes, Danielle spoke up. "I need new clothes. Brawn isn't exactly nice in the keep your clothes in one piece department."

"I had brought you a change of clothes, but the nurses told me that they'd have to keep them at their station until you were awake."

"Could you ever so kindly go and retrieve them for me?"

"I guess I'll be right back."

Dean sighed as he walked out of the room. He wasn't known to be the servant type, but seeing as Danielle was only wearing a bra, ripped up sweatpants and underwear, he thought it would be highly inappropriate if she went to retrieve her clothes herself.

When he returned with the bag, he noticed that Bruce was standing out in the hallway. Paying him no mind, Dean walked into the room and handed Danielle the clothes he had brought for her. Smiling, she kicked him out so she could change.

As soon as the door was closed behind Dean, Danielle took off her ripped up sweatpants and threw them in the garbage bin beside her bed. Unfolding the shirt, she noticed that it was a Toronto Maple Leaf one. Her smile grew wider because Dean knew enough to grab her favorite shirt. Slipping it on, she began to remember how she used to go to all of her younger foster brother's hockey games. Tears rolled idly down her cheeks at the thoughts. He was the only reason that she found living with her foster parents bearable. They had a bond that was so profound, it would have been impossible to break had she not run away. Stepping into the sweatpants, she started thinking of him again. Sweatpants were his favorite kind of pants to wear. He even got her hooked on wearing them. Even as she laced her black combat boots up, she was reminded of him. Since he got her hooked on sweatpants, she had gotten him hooked on combat boots.

Not wanting to alarm Bruce or Dean, she willed the tears that were welling in her eyes to dry up. When that didn't work, she thought of the happiest things that she could. After a few minutes of watching images of puppies dancing through her head, the tears finally dried up.

Sighing slightly, she walked out into the hallway where Bruce and Dean were patiently waiting. Both of them smiled at her. Dean then frowned at her shirt. He raised his finger to point at it. "Really? Who subjected you to such horrible losers?"

Danielle started fuming. Dean then cringed back. The last thing he wanted was for Brawn to make an unexpected visit. "No one. It's my choice to like them." She snarled quite viciously. A thought then occurred to her. "If you don't like them, why would you bring me this shirt?"

"I just grabbed the first shirt I saw. It was folded in just such a way that I couldn't see the logo on it."

"That may be true, but that doesn't give you the right be an asshole."

Bruce just stood there snickering the entire time. He loved how his newly discovered daughter was telling off a boy who was two years older than her and had a good four inches difference. Then again, if she got too angry, she would tower over him and be powerful enough to kill him just by poking him.

"Quit fighting you two." Bruce said firmly. "If we want to warn the others before something else happens, we should hurry up and go tell them now."

Both of Dean and Danielle rolled their eyes in discontent and followed Bruce as he made his way down the corridor. When they all reached the elevator, Dean, wanting to regain his gentleman status, allowed Danielle to step into it first. Bruce followed behind her and then Dean stepped in. With a press of the ground floor button, the doors were rolling closed. As soon as they opened again, they exited in the same order in which they entered.

Danielle ran outside in hopes of being the first to the car. However, she soon realized that she had no idea what it looked like. Turning around to ask, she noticed the look of amusement on Dean's face. Not even bothering to ask what he was so amused about, she examined the keys in his hand. Then, looking up and down the block, she found what she was looking for. Walking up to it, she was all wide eyed. Staring back at her was a black 1967 Chevy Impala. She then realized something. Everything about Dean screamed Dean Winchester. He had the right car, he dressed identically to the guy and he even looked enough like him to pass as him. If he had a little brother named Sam who was four years younger, Danielle was going to lose it.

Wanting to get it out of the way, Danielle spoke up as soon as Dean was standing beside her. "Do you have a thirteen year old brother named Sam?"

"How'd you even know that?" Dean looked at her with extreme shock in her eyes. As she stared with shock at Danielle, he finally understood where she was coming from. Pretty much everything about his life resembled that of Dean Winchester for the television show Supernatural. He had the black 1967 Chevy Impala, he dressed the same way and he had knew that he could very easily pass of as Dean Winchester. Even John, his dead step-father, fit into the equation. Only two things didn't fit into the equation. His mother's name was Victoria and he didn't listen to rock from the eighties. Although he didn't hunt the supernatural, he instead hunted the superhuman, so he figured it was close enough to count as the same thing. "Oh. Right. I'm practically Dean Winchester, aren't I?"

"Practically? You _are _Dean Winchester."

Bruce walked up at that point and immediately noticed the awkward air in between Danielle and Dean. Not wanting to say anything, he snatched the keys out of Dean's hand. Much to his surprise, Dean actually allowed him to take them. Every other time Bruce tried that, Dean revealed a concealed weapon and pointed it directly center between his eyes. Something must be seriously wrong if Dean was actually going to allow him to drive his precious car.

As soon as he was behind the wheel, Bruce waited all of three seconds before Danielle took shotgun and Dean crawled in the back. After all the lap belts were done up around waists, Bruce unparalleled the car and drove off in the direction of Stark Tower.

When they arrived five minutes later, Dean was the first out of the car and at the door. Danielle was close behind and Bruce lagged like an old granny. Both Danielle and Dean chuckled at Bruce's slowness as they walked into the lobby and across to the elevator. Dean punched in the password and allowed Danielle to step in first. He followed swiftly behind. Danielle then reached out and touched the button for the sixtieth floor. Just as the doors were about to close, a hand shot in between them. When they opened again, a rather less than impressed Bruce was standing there. Danielle chuckled to herself as she touched the button that would close the doors. As soon as they closed, an awkward silence fell thickly through the air.

After a few brief moments, the elevator doors rolled open on the sixtieth floor. When they all stepped out, Dean turned to Danielle. "Would you like a tour? I'm pretty sure you've only seen the living area and the secret lab." He spoke with a little gravel to his voice. Images of Dean Winchester then decided to run rampant through Danielle's brain.

To get them out, she spoke softly. "Yes. I would love that."

Smiling, Dean guided Danielle through the living room and down the first hallway. On either side, there appeared to be four rooms. Entering the last one on the left, Danielle noticed a rather larger black of ice situated against the far wall. She just stared gapingly at it. Dean then nudged her shoulder.

"I dare you to crack it." He said with a slightly evil tone.

"Why would I do that?" Danielle replied with alarm.

"Just for the hell of it."

Sighing, Danielle conceded to Dean's request. Knowing that she would have to transform into Brawn to perform this task, she started thinking about her earlier transformation. Within a few minutes, she was standing in the room in her Brawn form. Her bra was plastered across her upper torso and her sweatpants hung with extreme rips around her waist and legs.

Walking up to the giant ice block, Brawn could faintly hear Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles playing from the CD player beside it. Not wanting to damage it, she aimed away from it. With a powerful wind up, Brawn connected hard with the ice block. It cracked and fell apart instantly.

On the inside of the ice was a girl staring around the room with anger flaring up in her eyes. When she managed to wiggle her way out of it, she immediately stared at Brawn. "Bruce, how many times have I told you not to do that? Don't think that because you put a bra on, I don't know who you are."

Dean started snorting from the doorway. He regretted it as soon as the ice girl's eyes fell on him. "Shit. I didn't mean to laugh, Scarletta. Really, I didn't." He threw his hands up in a defensive way. The last thing he wanted was an ice chunk to come flying at him.

"You put Bruce up to this didn't you? You know, for a seventeen year old, you sure have a hell of a lot of pull when it comes to a fully grown man."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but that isn't Bruce."

"Who is it then? His daughter?"

At that exact moment, Brawn transformed back into Danielle. Scarletta looked on with embarrassment tinging her frosty cheeks. That's when she noticed the way that the other girl's hair curled down to her shoulders. She also noticed the wonderful tint that her eyes glimmered in. Scarletta blushed as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck. Oh. You _are_ Bruce's daughter. My bad."

Danielle noticed Scarletta's discomfort and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Don't worry about it Scar." Danielle paused when she realized that wasn't sure if she was supposed to call her that. "It is alright if I call you Scar, right?"

"Yeah, yeah of course it is." Scarletta smiled weakly and blushed lightly at the same time. She was too much enjoying the fact that this new and attractive girl had her hand placed on her shoulder. It was times like this that made her not enjoy being a lesbian. The smallest touch by an intriguing girl and she got lost in them. That made focusing on conversation at the same time extremely difficult. It also made her love life complicated because almost every week, she had a new girl that she was hooked on.

"Hey, is everything alright? You seem distant."

"Ev-everything's fine."

"Sure it is." Danielle rolled her eyes.

All Scarletta could do was look up and down Danielle's body. She had rather large breasts, but Scarletta most definitely wasn't complaining. Danielle also seemed to be overweight, which didn't bother Scarletta one bit. She also liked curvy girls because there was more girl for her to love. As she scanned up and down Danielle's body, Danielle couldn't help but wonder what she was doing. Nervously, she tilted Scarletta's head up so that their eyes were dead locked on the others.

"What were you doing?" Danielle asked nervously. The last thing she wanted was to get the wrong impression of what had just happened.

"Scanning your body for visible injuries." Scarletta replied with a shaky voice, but she thought she sounded convincing enough. Cringing back a little, she waited for Danielle's response. All the while hoping it proved that she had been convincing.

"Oh, alright."

Scarletta gulped back the lump that had formed in her throat. Crisis averted. As she stepped back from Danielle, she realized that she hadn't even acquired the other girl's name. Sighing, she slowly brought her eyes up to meet Danielle's. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Danielle, but you can call me Danny."

Both girls shook hands. Danielle realized that when she touched Scarletta, she felt a strange sensation wash through her body. Shrugging it off as first meeting nerves, she smiled to show Scarletta that she really enjoyed talking to her.

Just as she turned to leave, a loud crash came from the living area. Jumping into action, Scarletta, Danielle and Dean, who had awkwardly been watch the whole encounter the girls shared, ran there. When they arrived, they saw Bruce laying on the floor not moving. Danielle instantly ran over to him and cradled him in her arms.

"Daddy? Daddy, please. Don't be dead." Danielle sobbed. The tears soon started falling off of her cheeks and landing on Bruce's still lifeless face. After a few more tears trickled down, groaning could be heard. Danielle smiled widely through the tears.

As soon as Bruce opened his eyes, he meet his daughter's. "What happened?" He asked with confusion lacing his voice.

Danielle went to reply, but Bruce winced in horrible pain. It took Danielle only a moment to realize why. When she looked down at Bruce's legs, she noticed that the left one had both the lower leg bones poking slightly out of the skin. Being the stubborn bastard that he is, Bruce tried to move his leg. All that managed to accomplish was an agonizing scream of pain and a couple stray tears.

A wicked laugh then filled the room. Danielle looked around the entire room before her eyes fell on a shadowy corner about fifteen feet away. When the figure stepped out, Danielle felt her stomach wrench into all kinds of arrangements and shapes. Loki had the most devilish of grins on his nearly ghost white face.

"I'm what happened." An evil laugh escaped his lips. Having had enough of just standing around, Scarletta lunged forward. She managed to make it about ten of the fifteen feet before Loki hoisted her up and tossed her across the room. When she hit the ground, she crumpled into a heap that reminded Danielle too much of a rag doll. Looking over at Danielle and then Dean, Loki pointed wickedly at his staff. "Either of you care to try your luck as well?"

Dean knew that he couldn't be of any assistance. He didn't have a bow and arrows or a gun. Also, he knew how Loki reacted to arrows. His father told him that without even looking, Loki had snatched one of his arrows out of the air and crumpled it. A gun would also do no damage because he would most likely dodge the bullet.

Conceding defeat, Dean walked forward with his hands interlocked behind his head. Danielle looked at him with massive anger. "What're you doing?" She practically screamed at Dean. However, he managed to keep his composure.

"Surrendering. We have a snowball's chance in hell of beating him with just the two of us." Dean briefly looked over at Danielle before he continued walking towards Loki. All Loki could do was grin evilly. Oh the things he was going to do to this boy once he had been brought back to Asgard.

Dean now stood in front of Loki. He gulped back fear because he was extremely intimidating. He stood about three inches taller than Dean's six feet and looked like he weighed a good thirty pounds more that Dean's one seventy.

Without so much as a warning, Loki twirled his staff. In the blink of an eye, Dean disappeared along with him. Danielle couldn't stop her heart from sinking into her stomach. She couldn't believe that Dean had just done that. Sacrificing himself would have been brave in a normal situation, but this was so far from normal it wasn't even funny. It was at that point when Bruce decided to lose consciousness once again.

Looking over at Scarletta, Danielle noticed that she was still a heap on the floor and looked like she was going to be for a long while. She then looked at the spot where Dean had been standing not one minute ago. Finally, she looked down at her father's unconscious body in her lap. Sighing, she thought one thing to herself. Could this day get any worse?


	4. Chapter Four

Realizing that Bruce and Scarletta were going to be out for a while, Danielle decided that she needed to have a conference with the rest of the members of the Avengers. Getting up from the ground, she glanced over at Scarletta and Bruce to make sure that they at least looked peaceful.

Sighing out of sadness, she went down the hallway that held some of the bedrooms. Looking for the door marked Tony, she knocked softly on it, but it was definitely loud enough to be heard from the inside. Footsteps could be heard walking from the inside of the room to the door. When it opened, Tony was standing there looking like he had just woken up. His short was disheveled and his eyes looked like they had bags under them.

"What is it?" Tony yawned forcefully. "In case you couldn't tell, you just woke me up."

"I'm really sorry about that, but what I have to tell you is important." Danielle apologetically rubbed the back of her neck. Seeing the confusion that was already prominently displayed on Tony's face, she made a quick decision change. "Actually, it would probably just be better if I showed you.

Groaning in obvious displeasure, Tony followed Danielle back to the living area. When he got there, the tiredness immediately left his eyes. Bruce and Scarletta both still lay in unconscious heaps on the ground, glass was strewn about like confetti after a New Year's celebration and furniture was in multiple pieces and scattered around the room.

Turning to face Danielle, tony had a look of fury in his eyes. "What the hell happened?" He spat out in a little more anger than he would have liked.

"L-Loki made an appearance and raised hell." Danielle bit back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She then pointed to where a coffee table that was lying in the middle of the room. "So, Dean decided to sacrifice himself right there in front of the coffee table. Loki brought Dean with him wherever he went."

"Clint is _not_ going to be happy about that."

"I'm not very happy. Loki beat the absolute shit out of my da- Bruce. He beat the absolute shit out of Bruce." Danielle almost let the fact that Bruce was her dad slide off of her tongue. She didn't need anyone else finding out right now seeing as it wasn't the priority. The priority was getting Dean back and stopping Loki.

Tony raised an eyebrow, but he evidently said nothing. For that, Danielle was extremely grateful. The last thing she needed was to make an awkward moment even more so awkward.

A low and painful groaning brought Danielle's attention over to where Scarletta was lying in a heap. Rushing over, Danielle noticed that Scarletta was pretty much in the same boat as Bruce. She had broken her left leg so bad, the bone was sticking out and looked like it was just about ready to shatter. Seeing as it didn't faze her, Danielle decided that she was going to carry Scarletta down to the car and have Tony drive them to the hospital.

As soon as Scarletta was carefully situated in her arms, Danielle started carefully walking towards the elevator. When they reached it, Tony swiftly came up from behind and pressed the down button. As the doors rolled open, so did Scarletta's eyes. The first thing her eyes fell on were Danielle's.

"You know, you have pretty eyes Danny." Scarletta weakly spoke. Her words came out barely an octave above a whisper so Danielle had to strain her ears to hear. When she did, she blushed rather profusely.

"Y-you really think so, Scar?" Danielle blushed a light shade of pink. No one had complimented her like that before. Not even her ex-girlfriend, so I felt comforting when Scarletta had said it. Scarletta picked up on that and smiled weakly before she once again lost consciousness.

The whole way to the hospital Danielle couldn't help but wonder if Scarletta's comment was supposed to be flirty or if it was made because she had suffered a concession. Either way, she knew that it made her stomach tie up in knots. She also knew that she hadn't felt this way about someone since the day she met her ex-girlfriend. Images of Scarletta being homophobic rushed violently through Danielle's head. Even though she didn't want to think like that, she knew that it had a very strong likelihood of being true. Less violent images of Scarletta being supportive but straight also danced through Danielle's head. As she had always been told, she was going to let the chips fall where they may.

When Scarletta was whisked off to surgery, Danielle felt her nerves kick into overdrive. Having the over active brain that she did wasn't always good when it came to dealing with situations that had multiple outcomes. She generally thought the worst. Like right now she was thinking of the doctors coming out and saying that Danielle had died from contracting a staph infection or that her bone had shattered while they were trying to repair it.

After nearly three hours, a doctor came out. He scanned the room as if looking for someone. When he found himself looking into Danielle's eyes, he walked right up to her. Danielle nervously looked back at him.

"H-how is she?" Danielle's voice was shaky, but that was completely understandable. She had witnessed everything that had happened to Scarletta and had to live with the reality of her not saying anything to stop it from happening. She could have very easily said stop, but she knew that there was just something about that way that Scarletta was looking at Loki that told her not to.

"She's doing great. We managed to repair her leg with little damage. She got really lucky because the bone just missed nicking her femoral artery." The doctor paused when he saw relief wash over Danielle's face. He then motioned down the hall towards were the ICU room were. "You can go see her if you want."

Without any hesitation, Danielle was out of her seat and heading down the hall. When she reached the ICU room that held Scarletta, she felt her stomach flip. An intravenous line was poked into Scarletta's hand and was most likely dripping some kind of painkiller. Stepping into the room, Danielle noticed a couple of other people sitting in the corner. She found that surprising because she had been the one to bring Scarletta here and she hadn't noticed anyone inquiring at the nurses' station about her.

Walking over, Danielle noticed that one of the people was male and the other female. Examining the male first, she noticed that he had dark red hair that could be arguably be considered auburn. It was stuck up in a spiky manner all across his head. His eyes glowed a radiant green color. As Danielle looked closer at them, she noticed that they had a fractured appearance. That made her gape in awe. His skin was almost ghostly pale and his face was dusting with freckles. He was rather tall and had gangly arms and legs that were still somewhat muscular. He was a rather attractive looking young man. His Converse high tops, simple jeans, unzipped red hoodie and plain white shirt added greatly to that. As for the female, Danielle noticed that she had pin straight blonde hair that reached down the middle of her back. On the left side of her hair was a dark blue highlight. Her dark chocolate colored eyes glistened masterfully in the sunlight that flooded the room. She had freckles practically covering her face and a scar about the size of a dime under her right eye. She stood almost six feet tall and was muscular. That scared Danielle a bit because she was afraid that this girl was going to attack her or something along those lines.

"Why are you in here?" Danielle looked back and forth between the two people.

"Fury sent us in to evaluate her situation." The blonde spoke with a distinct Southern twang. "More importantly, why are you here?" She raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. She then pursed her lips while waiting for Danielle to respond.

"I'm the one that brought her in."

"The way we had it, you're the one that out her there."

"Who told you that?"

"We have our sources."

Danielle felt her face become exceedingly hotter. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to hold back Brawn much longer, so she started preparing for transformation. All the time thanking God for making this hospital a SHIELD hospital. It would be so awkward explaining her transformation to a bunch of civilian hospital personnel.

"What's wrong? Can't handle the truth?" The girl snickered evilly.

That was all it took for Danielle to be pushed over the edge. Her human form quickly melted away into Brawn. The girl that had been snarky to her and the boy both stared on in shocked amazement. Scarletta, who had just awoken from her anesthetic induced slumber, stared on and snickered. Some sources that those people had. If their sources were actually reliable, they would have told them that Danielle had a big green monster raging inside of her that came out when she was extremely angry.

Brawn just stood in the doorway fuming. She noticed that the girl that had sent her over the edge was shaking like a leaf in the corner. The boy was doing the exact same thing in the other corner. When Scarletta noticed that, she started feeling concerned for them. Looking over at Brawn, she furrowed her brow.

"Danny, leave them alone. Hurting them would only lead to more trouble than it's worth." Scarletta tried to sound reasonable. She then noticed a look of surrender pass across Brawn's face.

After couple of minutes, Brawn melted back into Danielle. Smiling apologetically, she walked up to Scarletta's bedside. Looking over at the shaking boy and girl in their respective corners, Danielle motioned for them to leave. Without even hesitating, they scurried quickly out of the room.

Danielle then turned back to Scarletta with a smile on her face. "Sorry. I can't control it." She nervously rubbed the back of her neck. When she saw the small smile creep across Scarletta's face, she felt her stomach flutter in her chest. "You know, you're kinda cute when you smile."

That made Scarletta blush a bright pink color. It had been a while since someone had complimented her like that. "Y-you really think so?" When the smile swept cleanly across Danielle's face, Scarletta knew that she really did think so. Her blushing stayed the same color, but she felt it get hotter. Scarletta just wished that Danielle had said that in a flirtatious manner. It would be terribly awkward to get the wrong impression. "Are you flirting with me?"

"You're not a lesbian? I thought you were from the way you've been looking at me." Danielle's voice was shaky because it was obvious that she was about to cry from embarrassment. Scarletta placed her hand on Danielle's shoulder. She then started rubbing small circles on it. That caused Danielle to plaster a smile across her face. "Thank God you are. This could have been really awkward."

Scarletta chuckled softly. "I'm good at awkward."

As the girls chuckled softly with each other, they weren't aware that someone had been watching them. He smiled wickedly to himself as he decided on an evil plan to break them apart. As the figure stalked back down the hallway, he chuckled lightly to himself.

"Time to make their lives a living hell."


	5. Chapter Five

Scarletta was discharged from the hospital the next day under the conditions of being bedridden except for the case of going to the bathroom. Even then, she would have to have someone helping her because her leg was nowhere near strong enough to even graze across the floor. Without even hesitating, Danielle had wholeheartedly agreed to do everything she could to help Scarletta.

Her generous deeds started pretty much as soon as they got back to Stark Tower. Scarletta had tried to push her wheelchair by herself, but somehow managed to get it caught on a piece of carpet and fall forward. Before she even hit the floor, Danielle was underneath her holding her up. Shimmying a little, Scarletta managed to get back into her wheelchair. The entire rest of the trip up to the sixtieth floor had Scarletta blushing sheepishly. No girl had ever actually returned the affection she had for them, so it was heartwarming. Now, all she had to do was figure out the perfect way to ask Danielle out.

When Scarletta was rolled into her room, she noticed that there was a young girl lying in the fetal position on what was supposed to be her bed. Danielle furrowed her brow and Scarletta just looked straight up confused. They both then heard silent sobbing coming from her. Scarletta nudged her wheelchair forward. Danielle took the hint and rolled her over there. She then leaned over and placed her hand on the girl.

"Is everything alright sweetie?" Scarletta's voice was full of concern. When the girl rolled over, Danielle noticed that she looked somewhat like Dean. She had sandy blonde hair that fell in waves to her shoulders. Her piercing green eyes were encapsulated in a heart shaped face. Her skin had a fair complexion making it easy to see the beauty mark below her left eye. Although she was lying down, Danielle estimated her to be of about average height and weight. Even her breasts looked like average size. Her waist jutted inwards slightly and then right back out again as soon as it got to her hips. Staring at her legs, Danielle noticed that they appeared to be slightly on the long side for her height. Along her temples and cheeks were clusters of pimples. Her legs were covered in denim shirts and black tights. Her top half was layered with a black cardigan and a tight white tank top that definitely accentuated her breasts; Danielle didn't complain though.

"N-no. I lost my brother." She managed to say between her hyperventilation gasps. Danielle reached over and started rubbing circles on the girls back to calm her down. Once she calmed down a little, she spoke again. Sorry for being in your room. It's just that cold has always calmed me down."

"I don't mind one bit. You lost your brother."

Danielle then started fitting two and two together. The girl lying on the bed looked somewhat like Dean. That meant that Clint was most likely her father. Now, as for her mother, Danielle was at a complete loss as to who that could be. That it until she noticed a female with deep auburn hair that looked dyed and piercing green eyes standing in the doorway. She walked slowly up and sat on the bed beside the crying girl. Reaching out, the woman cradled her. Rocking her back and forth slightly caused the girl to fall asleep in a few minutes.

"Sorry about Cora. She's just so distraught about Dean sacrificing himself." The woman spoke softly, so she wouldn't wake up her sleeping daughter. Seeing looks of confusion and understanding on Danielle's and Scarletta's face, she decided that she better introduce herself. "Natasha Romanoff. Cora's mother." She extended her hand for both of the other girls to shake. When they did, she smiled at them.

"Danielle Pellegrino. Bruce's daughter." Before Danielle realized what she was saying, it slipped mercilessly out of her mouth. She just stood there in embarrassment. Natasha, however looked at her with a sweet smile.

"I always told him that he'd make a great father someday. Never knew he already was one."

Danielle smiled at that because she didn't want to spoil a sweet moment. Truth was, Bruce was nothing to her until earlier that day. She had never met the guy because she had been told that he didn't know of her existence. Knowing that it was probably true, she had always been hesitant to ask about him in fear that anyone she asked was going to talk about him in a negative light. It hadn't been until after her grandparents' funeral ten years ago that she was able to find out his name and track him down. Much to her dismay, she had found while he had been working with the gamma radiation. When it exploded, he wasn't the only one that had been infused with it. Five year old Danielle had been also. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she managed to find her way back to Canada. Upon her arrival, she was placed in a lovely foster home that she stayed in until she ran away in October. She found shelter in homeless shelters and wherever she felt safe until applying for the apprenticeship with Tony. Now, she was living here.

Seeing that Danielle had drifted off into her own little world, Scarletta grabbed her hand. That snapped Danielle out and she was blushing profusely. Looking down at Scarletta's hand, she noticed that it had intertwined with her. That caused her to get nervous because Natasha was sitting right in front of them. She was so afraid that she was homophobic, but holding Danielle's hand felt so right, that she didn't want to let go.

"Scarletta Contaili. Danielle's girlfriend and proud controller of ice." To make her point, Scarletta pulled Danielle down to her level and placed a quick, but meaningful peck on her cheek. The blush that had covered Danielle's face grew hotter and redder. Scarletta's peck felt so right that she almost didn't care about what Natasha was going to say. Scarletta also snapped her fingers. That caused ice to fly over from what was left of her cocoon. Natasha stared on in amazement, but Danielle couldn't tell what had amazed her.

"Why so nervous, sweetie?" Natasha looked directly into Danielle's eyes. When Danielle didn't reply, Natasha started wondering if she was selectively mute when she got overly nervous. Placing her hand on Danielle's shoulder, Natasha looked into her eyes again. Seeing as she was trained to recognize facial expressions, it didn't take her long to figure out what was wrong with Danielle. "You haven't told anyone that you fancy girls yet, haven't you?"

Nodding her head no caused Natasha to look all confused. She was sure that she had gotten that right. Furrowing her eyebrows, she waited to see if Danielle was going to say anything.

After a few minutes of silence, tears streaked violently down Danielle's face. Fearing that Danielle's sudden shift in emotion would lead to an uninvited guest, Scarletta sat her down on her lap and cradled her gently. Sob after vicious sob escaped her lips as she let all of her emotions flow out of her eyes, down her cheeks and eventually soak in the area of her shirt around her stomach. Seeing as she Danielle definitely needed comforting, Scarletta started rubbing circles on back in the same manner that Danielle had done to Cora. Small sighs escaped Danielle's lips, but Scarletta couldn't decide if they were out of appreciation or satisfaction. After a few minutes, Danielle's sobs made way for subtle snores. Not wanting to disturb her, Scarletta knew that she was going to have to act like a bed for however long Danielle was asleep for. Normally, that would have bothered her profusely, but seeing as this was her girlfriend (almost), she knew that this was going to be worth it. Natasha decided to leave all three girls alone to sleep. As she walked out, she gave one last glance, she smiled.

When the door quietly closed, Scarletta felt uneasy for some reason. Looking around the room, she found nothing that seemed odd. Shrugging it off as newly discovered Danielle nerves, she rolled her head back and calmly drifted off into a less than peaceful sleep.

_Screaming could be heard filing the air. Scarletta looked around, but she didn't find anything. Feeling frustrated, she ran in the direction that she figured it came from. Running for what seemed like ever before she finally came to an isolated building, Scarletta felt like she was walking into a trap._

_Walking into the building, she noticed that Dean hung from the rafters via a waist belt. Blood trickled from a head wound that he had sustained. Rushing over to him, Scarletta once again started feeling like she had walked into a trap. Untying Dean's waist belt nonetheless, she grabbed him so he wouldn't fall into a heap on the floor._

_However, once his feet touched the cracked concrete floor, she magically changed into Loki. Jumping back, Scarletta felt nauseated. The last person in all of the nine realms that she wanted to deal with was her father. _

_He began laughing manically. "Hello dear. Have you missed me?" He also plastered the wickedest of smiles across his lips. That made Scarletta jump back in a little bit of surprise. It had been nearly thirteen years since she had seen him last. _

_Feeling angry at him for being evil and not visiting her, she snapped her fingers. A chunk ice the size of a baseball flew into her hand. Taking thirty seconds to ready her arm, she fired it at Loki. Much to her dismay, he hit it with his staff and shattered it directly in half. Gulping, Scarletta turned to run away._

_However, a faint voice caught her attention._

"_Scar? Scar help me!" The voice sounded female but she didn't know who it was until she turned around. Encased in a block of ice like Captain had once been was Danielle. Scarletta's heart sank into her stomach and her stomach twisted into knots._

"_Why are you doing this to me?!" Scarletta fiercely roared back at Loki._

_All he could do was chuckled wickedly. "Why should my spawn be happy if I'm not? I want you to feel what it's like to have a villain for a father." He chuckled even more wickedly when he noticed the look of sadness and anger cross Scarletta's face. He pursed his lips and spoke one final time. "Say goodbye to your beloved girlfriend."_

Wait. That sounded way too real. Snapping her eyes open, they immediately fell on Danielle who was encased in a block of ice. She was smashing around violently at it hoping for it to break. When it didn't, she transformed into Brawn. Even I her strengthened form, the ice wasn't budging. Conceding defeat, she looked at Scarletta with tears in her eyes. As they beaded gently down her face, Scarletta felt some of her own bead down her face.

Hearing evil snickering, she looked to her left and noticed Loki standing there with a wicked smile on his face.

"Tell me why, dad." She bit back the anger that was welling up. She knew that she couldn't act on it in her current state, so she felt best to push it aside.

"No child of evil deserves to live the life of a hero." He snarled viciously at her. His eyes narrowed in accomplishment when he noticed the tears fall harder down his estranged daughter's face. Snickering slightly, he waved his staff and disappeared.

Danielle was still left encased in the ice. Wheeling over to it, Scarletta placed her hand on it. Seeing her gesture, Danielle did the same. Tears fell violently out of the eyes of both girls. Scarletta was gasping for air after a few minutes because she had been sobbing so forcefully.

"You're going to be okay." Scarletta choked out of her now severely hoarse throat. "Everything'll be okay."

Before Danielle had a chance to respond, the ice block she was in disappeared along with her. That left Scarletta a blubbering mess in her wheelchair. Then, as if someone had been wickedly watching over her, Scarletta heard the lyrics to a love song blast into her ears.

"I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky. I'll be there. I swear. Like a shadow that's by your side. I'll be there, for better or worse, till death do us part. I'll love you with every beat of my heart. I swear."

She looked up at the ceiling as if it was the sky. Then, she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Why me?!" Scarletta then just started sobbing so hard that she was afraid her were going to die from dehydration. Feeling everything in her body ache, she became determined to rescue Danielle and Dean from the clutches of Loki. Nothing was going to get in her way. Absolutely nothing.


End file.
